Please, No More Words of the Year

I have a feeling this message will be unpopular, but I need to get it out of my system: please, for the love of God, can we stop sharing “words of the year” every January?

I have nothing against words, really. In fact, I love words, and have formed a very healthy habit of stringing them together to create sentences and even a living. Words are among my favorite things in life. Really.

But I’ve never been able to understand the annual onslaught of proclamations, “I have my word of the year!” The rest of us must see and hear them everywhere - in emails, on social media accounts, and even while waiting in line at the grocery store. I won’t be surprised if they become a staple in cyber security questions. What was the name of your favorite pet? What is your mother’s maiden name? What was your word of the year in 2009? Hackers would love that, because the answer would always be from the same annual cluster of affirmation words, like hope, courage, fearless, joy, daring, and my all-time least favorite … positivity.

I get the intent - if you have a “theme” for the year, then that intention will help you focus on actions and goals, etc. And that’s lovely. Really. What I find annoying is the rest of us have to endure the inevitable and peer-pressure-laced question, “Well … what is your word of the year?”

My vote would be to promote more authentic words of the year, like clueless, over it, confused, holy shit, fatigued-and-unable-to-move, or my own personal favorite … fuckery. Do you see how much more authentic this feels? I would also appreciate honest and complete sentences of the year, like:

• Who is that in the mirror?

• Please find my remote.

• Did I tell you this already?

• I can’t remember the name of that movie, let’s Google it.

• Fuckery is afoot.

Now, this kind of authentic and vulnerable sentence-sharing activity is something I can get behind, and with enthusiasm. So my questions for you is, where do you stand on this subject, and what would your let’s-get-real sentence of the year be? I want to know. Really.